Downpatrick family are plagued by rat invasion

Downpatrick family are plagued by rat invasion

25 January 2012 - by JOANNE FLEMING

A DOWNPATRICK family claims their house is being infested with rats.

Desmond Smyth says he can hear rats at his home in Marian Park, where he lives with his wife Michelle and their three children.

Mr. Smyth has even had the floorboards lifted to investigate a strange smell.

He is convinced the problems stem from a neighbouring privately-owned property, which he says

has been boarded up for several years.

“I have called the council and had the Housing Executive out,” he said. “There was a smell in the bedroom three or four months ago.

“We hear them every night of the week under the floor boards, we know there is something.”

Mr. Smyth says it is a public health issue and that the

Housing Executive needs more power to intervene when empty houses impinged on their own properties.

A Housing Executive spokesman said they had been out at Mr. Smyth’s property and found no problems which would lead to a rat infestation.

“The empty property next door is privately owned,” said the spokesman. “The Housing Executive understands that Down District Council’s Environmental Health Officer has called at the property.

“If the tenant thinks that there still is an issue with vermin he should contact the council to arrange a further inspection.”